Accent on London

We wrapped up our London ethnographic brand tracking on Monday. If there was one constant that made our visit a success it was everyone at Accent. Robbie was an extraordinary guide, making London come to life at every turn. Natasa, and her staff, made our time in London delicious on every level.

After more than a week of agency visits and tracking brands in culture the students have become fine fledgling ethnographers—with many thanks to the inspiring words of Alfie and Adam at Flamingo International.

Our agency visits helped us see the sweet spots that underline British advertising. Lucy at Wieden+Kennedy encouraged students to take chances and be willing to make mistakes. Gareth and his team at EuroRSCG demonstrated global branding brilliance with three case studies. Students left with a deeper understanding of global branding—inspired to consider the possibilities for advertising justice with the tck, tck, tck campaign.

Off we went to Manchester to learn about British B2B, from the best of the best at IAS. More on that in my next post.

We ended our time in London making a cultural collage with contributions from each student—none of which could be purchased. Check our their interpretation of the collage in the form of headlines posted in the comment section.

More from the north soon.

Jean Grow is an Associate Professor in the Advertising/Public Relations department at Marquette University. This summer, she leads a global brand tracking class through London and Prague to explore advertising across cultures. Follow her class’ blog at http://globalbrandtracking.wordpress.com.